Kalyanasundaram faced a cul de sac. The very thought of going home for dinner filled him with dread. Another chapathi to eat and I’ll scream, he thought. Amma had been right. Think twice before marrying a Punjabi she had said. Their life style and ours are not the same. But his love for Sarabjeet had been blind. Funny how she used to remind him of a tall glass of chilled meethi lassi that he used to order in Parmeet di Dabha…and that was another thing he couldn’t stand any more. His patted the layers of lard that had accumulated around his waist in the last three months of wedded nightmare!
Being posted in Jalandhar, it seemed a good idea to move in with Sarabjeet’s family, once they were married. Once the rose spectacles of newly married life were removed, reality struck. The toughest thing to compromise was the food. Chapathi for breakfast, paratta for lunch, tandoori roti for dinner…..Oh! his palate just longed for some pazhaya sadam (leftover rice) and katta thayiru( thick curds) accompanied by kadugu manga ( spicy tender mango pickle)…. But… no way…. His mother in law could not even boil rice properly. When he had placed the desire of wanting to eat rice before Sarabjeet, what was placed before him had been a plate of ghee- dripping half-cooked basmati rice tempered with jeera.
He did not bother them again. He bought himself a rice cooker, one which worked on electricity, which he hid in his office. Every morning he’d make one cup of rice for himself and gobble it around 11.30 with curds and pickle bought at the local Foodworld. Sarabjeet would personally bring his lunch to the office everyday. Sinfully rich parathas and aloo gobhi or palak paneer or if in a mood to punish him…,sarson da saag. He would take a deep whiff of it and feign to drool…just to keep her happy. After she left, once the coast was clear, he would, throw the whole thing outside the compound wall, exactly at 1.30 p m. The local curs would be waiting for their lunch and there’d be no trace of his lunch left over. Since he suffered the punjabi breakfast and dinner, he felt justified in indulging in a little madrasi deceit.
He had been lured by the newly- opened Udupi restaurant on the other side of the town. Today, irresistibly he was drawn into the Kamat restaurant. “Sadadosamasaladosaidliwadasambharoottappamkarabhathchowchowbathmeduwa-damasalwadaakkkirotiuppumaaaaaa!!!” announced the thambi in one long breath. Oh! Good old hotel jargon….! Even the way they announced the menu was appetizing! Kalyanasundaram said, ‘Idli wada sambhar and oothappam and closed his eyes in bliss.
He rang home and told Sarabjeet, ‘Oye! Have an urgent meeting…You have food, Don’t wait for me…Madrasi clients to deal with!’That settled, he tackled the steaming idli wada sambhar that was plonked before him. All’s fair in love and war! He consoled himself…
He loved Sarajeet…but he loved his madrasiness more. Diversity in Unity!
TRIAL 2
Eureka! Screamed Unnik as he rushed out of the bathroom not naked as Archemides had done ages back… He was fully clad but that did not make him any less genius than the originator of that yell. Unnik was a science freak.
He loved experimenting…creating…and doing things related to scientific theories when others of his age enjoyed playing cricket…or watching movies. He had been told to prepare a working model of some useful gadget for the annual science exhibition. He had been at a dead end. What could he do?
Last night as he watched his mother roll out chapathis, the idea had sprouted in his mind…. But it was just five minutes back, while sitting in the toilet, like Rodin’s Thinker, that he had finalized his idea.
He would make a 'multi- limbed roti- robot' that worked on electricity…. He had a blue print in his mind for the robot that would knead the dough with one limb, while another arm rolled the dough into balls and tossed against the wall. The third arm fitted with a flat sheet of metal would press the dough to form perfectly round chapathis which would be cooked on the electrically heated wall ….. Eureka, he muttered more soberly and jubilantly… Now to get the funds for the material to make my robot! Must tell Mom to sponsor the cost….After all, she’ll benefit first…only then I’ll give the patent for commercializing my product, he decided.
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